Shadows of the Past
by mooncheese23
Summary: Sora lays down to rest in a world after fighting off the heartless only to be disturbed by a person from his past who needs his help. R&R
1. Chapter 1

Sora sighed. He was too tired for anything. He laid down on the grass. He heard footsteps coming toward him, but he ignored them. He closed his eyes and imagined himself back on the island, with Kairi and Riku. "Sora, Sora." he could hear someone whisper. But he disregarded it as his wild imagination, letting himself get lost in his mind. "Sora, Sora." the whispering got louder. Behind closed eyes he thought it was his imaginary Kairi.

"Kairi." he mumbled. Then he heard someone next to him giggling. He opened his eyes, and stabbed daggers at the person who had disturbed his rest. It was a woman with blue hair and eyes. She was wearing athletic clothes, a sweater around her waist, and straps over her chest. She had disconnected sleeves on her arms, that had decorative armor sewn in. Strangely, she seemed familar to him.

"Hello, Sora." the woman said his name as if it was the best thing ever.

"How do you know my name?" Sora asked, disturbed.

"Don't you remember me?" the woman asked. Sora shook his head. "So you don't remember. No blaming you, you were only three back then." Sora just stared blankly at her. "Oh yes. You're probably wondering who I am and how I know you. My name is Aqua. I am a Keyblade Master, and many years ago I met you and Riku on your island."

"You're a keyblade master?" Sora said, surprised. "Me and Riku are going through the Mark of Mastery."

"I see. And how did you get your keyblade, Sora?"

"It just appeared one day, the day I needed it." Sora replied. "The day the heartless came to the island."

_Heartless. So that's what they are called._ Aqua thought. "Sora, I need to ask you a favor. Will you help me with finding my friends, Terra and Ventus?"

_I'm sorta busy,_ Sora wished he could say. But he couldn't resist helping people, and part of his heart was telling him to go with her to find her friends. "Okay." Sora almost sighed. Terra, that sounded familiar. The name Ventus tugged at his heart, but was not familiar at all. He put his hands behind his head. "So, where would they be?"

Aqua's look saddened. "I don't know where Terra would be, but I know for a fact that Ven is in Castle Oblivion."

Mentally Sora groaned. Castle Oblivion? Wasn't that where he had defeated half of Organization XIII? "Okay, let's go!" Sora faked enthusiasm toward going back. Aqua looked at him strangely as he began to walk off. "What's wrong?"

"How are we going to get there?" Aqua asked. "I don't have my keyblade."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked. Aqua held up a plain keyblade, its teeth in the shape of an E. "Why does that matter? We can just take a gummi ship."

"What's a gummi ship?" Aqua asked. Sora practically face palmed himself.

"You'll see it if you follow me."

Sora took a step inside the gummi ship. Both Donald and Goofy tackle-hugged him. "Oh, hey guys." he laughed. Then Aqua walked in and the two cartoon characters' jaws dropped.

"Master Aqua?" Donald and Goofy said in unison.

"You know her?" Sora was once again surprised.

"Yes, she brought back the King for us one time when he ran off." Donald answered.

"She and Ven were good friends with him." Goofy said. "We never thought we'd see her again, after she wandered off with Ven one day. She never came back." He looked behind her. "Hey, where's Ven?"

"We're going to go get him." Aqua answered. "Is that okay?"

"Of course it is!" Donald exclaimed. "We'll do anything for a friend of the King! Where to?"

"Castle Oblivion." Aqua said, simple and plain. If Donald had been a human, he would have paled. But still, he went along with the plan. He took them all over to the castle.

"Okay, here we are." Donald said. They all stepped off and found themselves under the shadow of the huge building. Sora put his hands behind his head again.

"Never thought I'd see this place again." he said. Aqua began to walk toward the entrance, and he followed her. "You know we're going to get lost, right?"

"Oh, we won't get lost." Aqua smiled. Her master's words echoed in her mind. _Then, everyone but you will be lost to Oblivion._ She pushed open the doors of the castles to a startling surprise.


	2. Chapter 2

Aqua lunged at the shadows with her keyblade. "Intruders!" she shouted. She turned back toward Sora and his group. "Did you just see that?"

"See what? All I saw was you going ape at the pillar." Sora answered. Aqua looked around, but whatever she had seen, it was gone now.

"I swear there was someone here just a second ago," she said.

"Don't worry, Master Aqua, we cleared this place years ago, there couldn't be anyone here." Donald explained.

"That's what you think, but there is worlds of possibilities out there." Aqua warned. "Be sharp, all of you." Then she began to lead them.

After awhile, Sora indeed noticed that something or someone was watching them, but whenever he turned to look directly at them, they vanished. He never got a clear look at them. Eventually Aqua led them to a wall. "Why are we stopping?" Sora asked. Aqua lifted her keyblade up to the wall. A beam of light came off of it, and the wall turned into a door in a flash of blinding light.

"Come on." Aqua said, and pushed the door open. That was when Sora noticed the thing in the shadow come nearer. It took the form of a person.

"Ah, so that was where you where it was hiding." the person said. Then it became fully viewable that it was a man in a lab coat. "The Chamber of Awakening. That one that the Superior was looking for." That was when Sora realized who it was.

"Vexen?" he cried. The man shook his head.

"Ah, Sora. You're looking for the Ventus as well?" the man looked at the group. "I was waiting for visitors, but not of this kind. I am not the man you know as 'Vexen', but the one who was called Even."

"Even?" Sora was completely and utterly confused.

"Even, why are you looking for Ven?" Aqua asked. Two more shapes came out of the shadows.

"'Who wouldn't be looking for him?' is my question." Even stated. The shapes in the shadows came into the light, and were revealed as two other people, both men. _Who are they?_ Sora thought. "The Superior desired to find this place, and now you brought me to it."

"You do know that your 'Superior' is gone now, right?" Sora lied. Aqua and the three men looked at him.

"What are you talking about, I can still sense his presence in the worlds." Even said. _Crap! _Sora thought. His lie had been discovered.

"Who is this 'Superior' anyway?" Aqua asked.

"Master Aqua, isn't it?" Even laughed. "Of course you don't know who the Superior is, you've spent too much time in the Realm of Darkness." That was another surprise to Sora. _She was in the Realm of Darkness?_ he thought. "His name is Xemnas. You probably don't recognize that name. Xehanort." Even said. "His other name was Xehanort." Sora could hear Aqua gasp.

"Xehanort?" she cried. "That bastard! Where is he?"

"Aqua, I told you, Xemnas is gone." Sora said, trying to calm her down. He felt pity for her. She had been stuck in the Realm of Darkness for how long? He had only been stuck there for what felt like merely minutes. She fell to her knees, crying.

"That bastard was the one who took Terra from me!" Aqua sobbed. "I'll kill him when I see him!" Donald sighed, showing pity for Aqua. _He must have been very important to her._ Sora was thinking. _She's getting so mad over losing him._

"Stand aside, Miss Aqua." Even said. When she didn't, he forced her to move and walked into the open chamber. When Sora heard the man gasp, he ran in after him. Inside, he found Even against a wall, with a boy who reminded him of Roxas holding a curved keyblade to Even's throat. Aqua stood up and walked into the chamber as well. When she saw the boy threatening Even, she gasped.

"Ven, stop!"

"Say what?" Sora exclaimed. The boy turned toward him, and dropped his keyblade. The key disappeared in a beam of light.

"Sora." the boy said. Then Aqua walked up next to the boy, and put her arm around him. "Aqua." He stared blankly at Aqua, then Sora and Aqua again. Donald and Goofy walked into the chamber, and jumped up in surprise at Ventus. "Donald. Goofy." Ventus said. He turned to Even. "Even. How dare you trespass. You know this castle is special to the keyblade wielders." He summoned his keyblade again to strike the man when Aqua went in front of him and blocked the attack with her keyblade. He pulled back his keyblade, and went again to strike Even.

"Ven, don't do it!" Aqua cried.

"Why?" Ventus asked. He lowered his keyblade. Even scurried away.

"You're giving in to the darkness. To hate." Aqua explained. "Just like Terra did." She saddened when she said Terra's name, as did Ventus.

"Terra." Ventus said. "What happened to Terra?"

"Terra... you know Xehanort's plan, right Ven?" Aqua said. Tears streamed down Ventus' face. He definitely knew.

"I read his reports. I know, but I didn't think it would work." Ventus said. Tears were still running down his cheeks. "Terra's gone, isn't he Aqua?" He didn't wait for her to answer. He fell to his knee and covered his face with his hands. "Terra's gone. I can't believe it. Terra's gone."

Now Sora felt pity for Ventus. The boy had lost his best friend, while Sora still had one. "Yes, Terra is gone. But Xehanort's plan was fouled, thanks to you, Ven. He never got to see his Kingdom Hearts. His purpose for possessing Terra was obsolete."

Then a thought came to Sora. _If Xemnas is still around, there might be hope for Terra to be around too._

"Aqua, I couldn't let Xehanort get his way." Ventus said. "I had to destroy Vanitas." He looked back at one of the thrones in the chamber. "Now I have to go back to sleep."

"Sleep? Ventus, I didn't even know you could wake up!" Aqua said. Ventus began to walk toward the throne. "Wait Ventus, I need you to stay!" That made Ventus stop. "Is there anything we can do to keep you awake?"

"I am a shell, one without a heart." Ventus said. _A nobody,_ Sora thought. Then the boy pointed to Sora. "You, you are the one who received the part of my heart not broken. If I can get that part back and the shattered part together, then I will not go to sleep." _That is a very special nobody, if he can't stay awake without a heart._ Sora thought. _Why did he give me his heart, though?_

"Sora, can you do that for me?" Aqua asked.

"I don't know. Wouldn't that mean I would lose my heart?" Sora pointed out.

"You had heart before I gave it to you. All you have to do is give the part I gave you back. Then repair the rest. Understand?" Ventus explained. Sora nodded. "Good. Now go to the Keyblade Graveyard. There will be fragments there. Collect them and bring them back, and I'll handle the rest."

"Okay... um, where is the Keyblade Graveyard?" Sora laughed sheepishly.

"I can show you." Aqua said. She reopened the door and walked down the hall.


	3. Chapter 3

The gummi ship landed on the desert-like land of the Keyblade Graveyard. Sora looked around, not having visited the place since a year before. Then he noticed something missing. "Hey, wasn't there someone here before?" Donald wondered.

"What, you mean you've been here?" Aqua asked. The group nodded.

"Yep, we thought it's name was the 'Badlands'." Goofy answered.

"Just like Ven." Aqua said. Then she sighed. _Ven. I hope he's okay back there._ she thought. "Okay, let's start looking."

"Um, what do these 'fragments' look like?" Sora asked.

"You've seen a heart, haven't you?" Aqua asked. The younger keyblade wielder nodded. "It should look like that, just smaller." She took a step forward and immediately something jumped down from the pillar nearby. "Crap. Forgot about that." Whatever had jumped down took the form of a boy slightly younger than Sora in a bodysuit that reminded him of the possessed Riku of his past. Unlike Dark Riku though, this body suit was black and white. "Get back, all of you!" Aqua shouted. The boy lunged at Sora with a keyblade, only for her to get in the way with her keyblade.

"What is that thing?" Sora exclaimed.

"An unversed, and one of those fragments Ven was talking about!" Aqua said, and the creature jumped backward. Suddenly red targets appeared on everyone. "Move it!" She jumped into the air just as a beam of darkness formed around the boy. Luckily Sora had quick reflexes and followed Aqua's lead. But Donald and Goofy were not so lucky, and got hit by the beam.

"Donald, Goofy!" Sora shouted.

"We're okay," Goofy called, though Sora could clearly see that the two cartoons were stunned on the ground.

"Come on Sora, don't worry about them. Now follow my lead." Aqua said, and thrust her keyblade upward. Bombs appeared underneath the creature and exploded, sending it flying. Aqua caught up to it and began to hit it repetitively. Suddenly it stopped jerking. "Sora, hit it!" she shouted when it reappeared behind her. Sora did as she said, and the creature froze on the spot and collapsed. Then it faded to darkness, and when it was gone, all that was left was an item sparkling on the ground. Sora picked it up.

"Is that it?" Sora asked. Aqua nodded, and he put the fragment into his pouch. "That was really easy."

"Because you hardly had to do anything." Aqua said.

"I did too do something! I hit him."

"I said 'hardly' did anything. What you did was important, but that was all you did."

"Okay, so now what?" Sora asked, putting his hands behind his head.

"Now we do it again until we have all the fragments." Aqua said. Sora almost fell over.

"Uh-huh. How many do we need?" Sora asked, knowing his eye was twitching.

"Who knows." Aqua said. Again Sora almost fell over. Donald and Goofy came over to join the group again.

"Sora, what's wrong with your eye?" Donald asked.

"N-nothing!" Sora denied. His eye stopped twitching. "Okay, let's go!" He went off toward Tornado Trench, unbeknownst of what lied ahead.

"Wait, Sora! Don't got there!" Aqua called. But it was too late.

"What... the... hell?" Sora said, running back to his group. "There were tornadoes over there! Why is there tornadoes here? I didn't know there were tornadoes!" He began to suck his thumb.

"Well, we might have to go in them." Aqua said.

"**Whaaaaaaaaaat**?" Sora said. He did not want to find himself in one.

"Don't worry, there not the normal types of tornadoes that rip off your head." Aqua explained. _That's a comforting thought, that I could get my head ripped off by a tornado._ Sora thought. "They used to have Unversed in them, but now they likely hold parts of Vanitas."

"Whose Vanitas?" Donald asked.

"What's an Unversed?" Sora asked.

"Vanitas was... a creation of Xehanort. Made from taking off the dark part of Ventus' heart. It was part of his plan, to take a heart of pure light, who would be Ventus, and a heart of pure darkness, who would be Vanitas, and have them clash to make the χ-blade, which would unlock Kingdom Hearts." Aqua said. "But Ventus was able to defeat Vanitas and foul Xehanort's plan. This led to the predicament we are in now, that Ventus' heart is incomplete. It was too late for Terra though, who had Xehanort's heart merged with his." Once again she saddened when she mentioned Terra. "Unversed were the fledging emotions of Vanitas embodied. Terra, Ventus and I were assigned to fight them off while looking for Xehanort." Aqua looked up, and smiled. "Come on, do you want to get the rest of Ventus heart or not?"

Sora nodded. "Okay!" They went to Tornado Trench. Immediately a tornado came at them. Donald and Goofy jumped at this sight.

"Get ready for a fight, guys!" Aqua told them. Sora summoned his keyblade, getting ready. The tornado surrounded them, and soon it was all darkness.

"Donald, Goofy, Aqua? Are you there?" Sora asked.

"We're here." Aqua called back. They walked up next to him. A ball of even blacker darkness appeared in front of them.

"Okay!" Sora said, and lunged at it just as it formed into its human form.

When they were done with the tornadoes' lingering forms, Sora realized that his pouch was lighter than before. "I think we're done." he said. He checked his pouch, and inside was a white glowing object. He sighed, closed the pouch, and collapsed on the ground. Aqua joined him, along with Donald and Goofy. "Man was that exhausting."

"Yeah." Donald said.

" Uh,Yep." Goofy said.

"You get used to it." Aqua said. "But it is pretty tiring."

Sora could here the roaring of an engine and something coming towards them. He was too tired to do anything though, and the rest of his group were too. "You guys are getting lazy." someone said. They walked over so Sora could see their face, and he realized that it was Ventus.

"Ah, Ven. How'd you get here?" Sora asked, sitting up. The rest of his group groaned and rolled on their side, all but Aqua.

"A keyblade glider. As long as you're nearby, I can stay awake. So I followed you. Since this is such an exhausting task, I wanted to save you the trouble of coming back." Ventus explained. He summoned his keyblade. "Do you have it?"

"Yes sir." Sora chirped, and opened his pouch.

"Good." Ventus said. "Now I need the other part back."

"Oh, and how are you going to do that?" Sora asked unenthusiastically.

"Just unlock your heart." Ventus said, as if Sora was an idiot. "Simple as that."

"Hmm, and how do I unlock it?" Sora asked.

Ventus held up his keyblade to Sora. "Stop stalling and do it. You know how." He put his keyblade back down.

"Okay..." Sora said. He was hesitant, but eventually he held his keyblade up to his chest. At first he thought it wouldn't work, but a beam came out of the tip. He was terrified that it might make him lose his whole heart, but he felt normal as ever when the shining ball of light came out. He didn't turn into a heartless, he was sure. He would have felt despair and falling in the dark if he had. He reached for the pouch and let out the other part of Ventus' heart, and it flew to the part that was floating. The two parts merged and went into Ventus' chest.

"Get down!" Aqua shouted. Suddenly Ventus looked in pain, and a translucent figure appeared to be walking out of him. The figure began to become full, and Sora realized it looked almost exactly like the Unversed he, Aqua, Donald and Goofy had fought in the Keyblade Graveyard, except this time red and black instead of white. Whoever it was, they started laughing maniacally. Then the boy took off the helmet his was wearing. Sora gasped. "Wh-who are you?"

The boy looked just like him, just with black hair. "That's Vanitas!" Aqua shouted. Ventus, upon hearing that, came out of his daze.

"Vanitas?" he said, looking up.

"Hello Sora." Vanitas laughed. Then he walked toward Sora just as Ventus was about to tackle him down. In a flash of light, the boys disappeared to Aqua, Donald and Goofy.

Sora looked around. He realized his was on an Awakening Station. The awakening had both him and Ventus on it, as well as Vanitas without his helmet. Then he looked around and saw both Vanitas and Ventus, holding strange and ornately decorated keyblades, both of which looked exactly alike. "What's going on here?" Ventus asked.

"You don't know?" Sora was surprised.

"Of course he doesn't; it wasn't him who ordered for his heart back. It was me." Vanitas said. "He gave up his heart to some little weakling, allowing me to use one of the remaining fragments of darkness to control him. But it wasn't enough for me to summon Kingdom Hearts. I needed for our hearts to be rejoined. That was realized too late." Ventus lunged at Vanitas with his keyblade, only for the attack to be blocked. "Tsk. Ventus, still as stupid as ever."

"Shut up! You used my body to abuse my friends?" Ventus shouted.

"They're just toys for me to use in the plan. Kingdom Hearts has come back. The Master will be very happy." Vanitas said. He was too busy blocking Ventus' attack to see Sora coming at him. But when he did, he was fast enough to block it. Ventus again tried to attack Vanitas, but when he did, it was just an illusion. Vanitas reappeared and swung at the two boys. They smacked again the barrier keeping them in the Awakening and slid to the floor. When Vanitas tried to strike them again, they had recovered enough to dodge roll out of the way. Ventus, who was faster than Sora, was able to get behind Vanitas and strike him several times. Again, he dodge rolled out of the way before Vanitas could retaliate. When Vanitas saw Sora trying to do the same thing, he teleported above Sora and struck at him. When Sora fell backward, Vanitas teleported behind him and struck him again. When Ventus saw this, he ran over and struck Vanitas repetitively. Then he raised his arms up and a tornado appeared in front of Ventus. It moved toward Vanitas, and he got caught whirling around in it. When it was over, Vanitas jumped into the air and a blinding light flashed. When it was over, Ventus was striking at Vanitas.

"Come over here, Sora! I need some help!" Ventus called. Sora did come over, and struck in unison with Ventus. Just as they were about to do a finisher, Vanitas shot back with a finisher of his own. Then Sora realized it was the same as what he and Ventus were performing. He forced himself to do his best, and eventually pushed Vanitas back. Then they slashed Vanitas again, and Awakening melted away.

"Ventus! Sora!" Aqua exclaimed when she saw the boys.

"Aqua!" Ventus shouted. He hugged his friend while Sora took some rope out of his pouch and tied up Vanitas. The boy was still laughing maniacally.

"You know that that wasn't Even at the entrance to Castle Oblivion?" Vanitas said.

"Liar!" Aqua shouted. "You couldn't know." But Vanitas opened a corridor of darkness and Even walked through.

"I was behind the left pillar while you were attacking the right pillar." Even stated. "And I have no reason to lie, now that Ventus has his heart back."

"Then who-" Aqua was cut off by someone putting their heavy hand on her shoulder.

* * *

><p>The fight scenes in this chapter are based off of actual fights in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. Attacks are chosen from these fights. The 'creatures' that Sora gets 'fragments of Ventus' heart' from are actually Vanitas' Remnant over and over. I just added in Sora to it. Who do you think that 'heavy hand' belongs to?<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, it's that armored guy!" Sora exclaimed, pointing at the person who had their hand on Aqua's shoulder. Ventus looked up and his eyes widened. Aqua shrugged the hand off and turned around. Tears began to run down her cheeks.

"Terra." Aqua whispered.

"Terra, is it really you?" Ventus asked. The man in armor raised his hand to his head and removed his helmet. Underneath was a rather handsome young man. Aqua's tears rushed off her face as she ran to his arms. Then they kissed.

Sora could feel his face get red. "Sora, are you having dirty thoughts about Kairi again?" Donald asked.

"N-no!" Sora blushed. He stared at Vanitas, who had begun to laugh maniacally again.

"What are you laughing about?" Aqua asked, breaking away to say it. The boy spit at the ground.

"Love, who needs that. You should have seen yourself get so emotional over him."

"Aqua, is that Vanitas with his arms bound together?" Terra asked. "I thought Ven killed him." He let go of Aqua and began to approach Vanitas. He summoned his keyblade. "You sick bastard!" He was about to strike the boy when Ventus interrupted.

"Stop, Terra." he said. "I want to let him go."

"**What**?" everyone said in unison.

"After the hell he put us through?" Terra pointed out, looking at his friend. "He and his master should suffer through what we and our master had to. Why would you want to release him?"

"Because." Ventus said. "Because I value having us together. That's why I defeated him the first time."

Then they all heard footsteps approaching. "Very good, Ven." King Mickey approached and said.

"Ah, the King." Sora said.

"The King?" Donald said. "What are you doing here?"

"Yen Sid sent me when Riku arrived at the tower, but Sora never came." Mickey explained. "We started the Mark of Mastery without you, Sora." Sora's expression saddened. "We had to, we didn't think you would come. Now I see you were busy on one of your adventures, helping people again."

"Does that mean I didn't pass?" Sora said.

"No, it doesn't. We can do the exam right now." Aqua said. "I am Master Aqua, after all."

Ventus sighed and began to walk away. "Oh no you don't, Ven!" Terra said. His friend looked back at him.

"What, I have to watch another person take the Mark of Mastery exam while I sit by?" Ventus moped.

"No, we were sorta thinking... you kinda deserve to be a part of the exam. You were the one who stopped the worlds from being invoked in darkness by Xehanort, after all." Terra pointed out.

"Yes, that's right." Aqua added.

"Are you sure this guy's at equal level with me?" Ventus teased.

"Hey!" Sora said, and summoned his keyblade.

"Just kidding." Ventus winked. "Get ready."

"Oh, one last thing, Sora." Aqua said. "Thank you for saving us." She went over and hugged Sora. He blushed.

"Um, for what?" Sora asked.

"For bringing me out of darkness. For bringing all the worlds out of darkness." Aqua said. Terra came over and put his hand lightly on her shoulder. "And for giving me back Terra." Then Ventus cleared his throat. "Well _us_, but especially me." She pulled away and stood back. Vanitas, who was still tied up spat on the ground. Terra went over and knocked him over into the spot he had spat on.

"Terra!" Ventus groaned.

"What? I didn't hit him." Terra said. Mickey laughed. Sora joined in. Then Aqua did too, and eventually everyone was laughing but Vanitas.

"Screw you." Vanitas mumbled. "Screw you, screw you, screw you." He tried to wipe the spit off his face, but his arms were bound too tightly.

"Okay, let the Mark of Mastery commence!" Aqua said when the laughing stopped. Ventus and Sora took their fighting stances with their keyblade. Aqua did everything like her master had taught her, sending the light orbs out.

_The master would be proud of you, Ven._ Aqua thought. Then she looked at Sora. _You too, Sora._ She saw Terra watching. He had taken off his armor and was now in his everyday clothes. She walked over to him and wrapped her arm around his. Sora struck at one of the orbs, and it faded away. As he was about to hit another, Ventus swung around and struck it instead. "Too slow!" Ventus laughed. He went for another one and Sora shoved him. _Well this is going to take a while._ Aqua thought, and sighed.


End file.
